TECHNICAL AND COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE Thirteenth Regular Session 27 September 3 October 2017 Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE WCPFC RECORD OF FISHING VESSELS WCPFC-TCC13-2017-RP05_rev1 1 Purpose Paper prepared by the Secretariat 18 September 2017 1. This paper presents for the consideration and information of TCC13 the annual summary of information contained in the WCPFC Record of Fishing (RFV) and the status of its operation. Background 2. The RFV was established pursuant to Article 24 (paragraphs 4 7) of the WCPF Convention. Conservation and Management Measures 2013-10 on WCPFC Record of fishing vessels and authorization to fish (CMM 2013-10) and Standards, specifications and procedures for the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission Record of Fishing Vessels (RFV SSPs) (CMM 2014-03) regulates how the RFV operates. The RFV is a publicly accessible list through the WCPFC website, providing a combined list of CCMs vessels that are entitled to fly its flag and are authorized to be used for fishing in the Convention Area beyond areas of national jurisdiction. The WCPFC Secretariat maintains the RFV on behalf of the members of the Commission. 3. This paper, as in previous years, is an annual summary of information contained within the RFV and on the operation of the RFV. It is provided in accordance with paragraph 15 of CMM 2013-10 and paragraph 14 of CMM 2014-03. The paper covers: A summary of the information contained in the WCPFC RFV Completeness of the fields in the RFV RFV and fished/did not fished report Observations and administrative notes 1 Rev 1 replaces the original version posted on 5 Sept 2017, and corrects an error in the original version of Annex 1. 1
Summary of the information contained in the WCPFC RFV as at 12 August 2017 4. This section provides an annual summary of the information contained in the RFV as required under CMM 2013-10 paragraph 15. The RFV is continuously publicly available via the WCPFC web site at http://www.wcpfc.int/record-fishing-vessel-database as required by paragraph 9 of CMM 2014-03. The summary statistics, presented as graphs and tables below, are automatically updated, as the RFV changes and is reflective of what is in the RFV at that point in time. There are a number of filters that users can apply to the charts. CCMs are referred to http://www.wcpfc.int/vessels/charts/types for the latest RFV summary statistics and these can be printed from the website as pdf files. Figure 1: 2
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Figure 4: WCPFC RFV AS AT 12 AUGUST 2017 Number of Vessels authorized to transship (ie. field Authorisation to transship on the high seas = YES) 5. As agreed by WCPFC11, information on high seas transshipment authorizations is now treated as public domain data and available through the RFV. There are 2402 vessels at the time of writing this paper that answer YES to Authorize to transship on the high seas field in the RFV (see Figure 4). In accordance with the field description in the RFV SSP related to this field, CCM is to enter yes if the responsible CCM has made an affirmative determination under 5
para 37 of CMM 2009-06 and has authorized the vessel to be used for transshipping HMS on the high seas in the Convention Area, and the authorization is currently valid, otherwise, enter no. 6. In addition, at the time of writing this paper, there were 62 purse seine/tuna purse seine vessels in the RFV that answer YES to Purse seine vessel authorised to transship at sea field. These are flag to Philippines (60 vessels) and Papua New Guinea (2 vessels). Figure 5: WCPFC RFV AS AT 12 August 2017 Number of Vessels that answered Yes: CCM-flagged in the field Under Charter 6
7. As reported to TCC11, WCPFC 11 agreed that the information reported by flag CCMs as part of the RFV updates, related to charter notifications and high seas transshipment authorizations should be treated as public domain data (WCPFC 11 summary report para 500). Accordingly, these information were made publicly available on the RFV website in 2015. CCMs are reminded that in accordance with Attachment 1 of CMM 2014-03, the chartering information relates to vessels in which it is notified as chartered under CMM 2016-05 or is considered to be chartered under CMM 2013-10 paragraph 42. The Secretariat has observed in some instances, that CCMs are entering charter information on the RFV for vessels which are not formally notified as chartered by a chartering CCM under CMM 2016-05 or its predecessor. In addition, some formally notified charters in accordance with CMM 2016-05 are yet to be updated on the RFV. As at 12 August 2017, there were 280 vessels in the RFV which has YES-CMM flagged in the field Under Charter (see Figure 5), 263 of which had current charter authorization period as at 12 August 2017. However, according to the Secretariat s record, there are only 158 vessels with current authorization charter period, notified to be chartered under CMM 2016-05 (or its predecessor). The Secretariat urges CCMs to check that they are using the charter fields correctly. Only the submitting CCM, which is usually the flag State, can update its own vessels on the RFV. Only after the flag CCM has duly received advice from the chartering CCM of charter notifications (CMM 2016-05), would there be an expectation by the Secretariat that flag CCMs would update the relevant fields on the RFV for their submitted vessels. Completeness of the fields in RFV 8. CMM 2013-10 paragraph 6 requires a list of information to be submitted by CCM with respect to each vessel entered in its record. The RFV SSPs also require CCMs to submit complete vessel record data to the WCFPC Secretariat that meet the structure and format specifications of Attachment 1 (of CMM 2014-03). Attachment 1 identified minimum data requirements which must be present for the vessel to be included on the RFV. Footnote 3 (of CMM 2014-03) clarified that although vessels with only the minimum required data will be added to and maintained on the RFV, this does not relieve the responsible CCM of its obligations to provide all the data required under the WCPFC s applicable conservation and management measures (CMM 2013-10 paragraph 6). 9. This information as well as a current evaluation of completeness of the RFV fields by CCM is viewable by CCMs on secure CCM-pages of the website. 7
Figure 6: 10. CCMs are referred to the WCPFC website for the latest RFV summary statistics for Figure 1 Figure 6 that are available at http://www.wcpfc.int/vessels/charts/types and can be printed from the website as pdf files. RFV and Fished/Did not fished Report 11. CMM 2013-10 paragraph 9 states that before 1 July of each year, each Member shall submit to the Executive Director a list of all vessels that appeared in its record of fishing vessels at any time during the preceding calendar year, together with each vessel s WCPFC identification number (WIN) and an indication of whether each vessel fished for highly migratory fish stocks in the Convention Area beyond its area of national jurisdiction. The indication shall be expressed as (a) fished, or (b) did not fish. CCMs are reminded that in accordance with CMM 2013-10 paragraph 9, an indication of fished means the vessel fished for highly migratory fish stocks in the Convention Area beyond the flag CCM s area of national jurisdiction. This is an important piece of information that assists the Secretariat in reviewing the applicability of certain CMMs and is used in its task of preparing the draft CMR in response to the tasking set out in paragraph 22 of CMM 2015-07 entitled Conservation and Management Measure for Compliance Monitoring Scheme. 12. As in previous years, in 2017 the Secretariat maintained its usual practice of providing relevant CCMs with an Excel spreadsheet template based on Secretariat records of the list of vessels that were included on the RFV (authorized to fish in the Convention Area beyond the flag CCMs jurisdiction) for at least one day during the preceding calendar year. The templates 8
are prepared with a view to assisting CCMs in providing their reports, through the template providing CCMs with a list of their flagged vessels on the RFV and the option of choosing fished or did not fish from a drop-down menu. The use by CCMs of the template also has the advantage in that it provides the WCPFC Secretariat with a report that can be automatically loaded into the WCPFC RFV databases (no manual data entry into WCPFC records is needed). 13. As at 12 August 2017, 28 flag CCMs (including 5 CNMs) have submitted their fish/did not fish report for 2016 calendar year and only one flag CCMs report was outstanding. Timeliness of submission of this report continued to improve this year with all (except one) reports received within the deadline. Annex 1 to this paper provides a summary of reporting by CCMs in their fished/did not fish report for the past three years. As required by paragraph 13 of CMM 2014-03, this information is integrated with the RFV and available for use in compliance reviews and MCS analyses by the Secretariat for completing the draft CMR. Response to CCM requests 14. At TCC12 some CCMs made interventions outlining requests to the Secretariat related to RFV-related information. There was no formal tasking from TCC12 to the Secretariat that came from the Member interventions. Nonetheless, the Secretariat did take note of two areas that CCMs had identified as areas of importance for future work by the Secretariat, and provides some updates here. 15. At TCC12, the Secretariat was requested to investigate the development of mechanisms so Members could access and analyze historical information from the RFV. The Secretariat has been working directly to assist the FFA Secretariat and SPC-OFP with online and routine access to the WCPFC RFV data. The Secretariat has also looked into this task with its IMS Contractor, and will provide a report of progress to TCC13. 16. In addition, at TCC12 the Secretariat was further requested to work with SPC to compare the list of active vessels reported by CCMs (paragraph 2 of Scientific Data to be Provided) with the vessels that have submitted log sheet data. This was a matter that was also raised at SC13 in reference to Figure 6 of WCPFC-SC13-2017/GN-WP-01 for the number of purse seine vessels operating in the WCP-CA according to log data submission (for the purse seine fishery). Of relevance to this matter, CCMs are referred to Annex 1 of this paper for the vessels reported by CCMs to have fished beyond their flag State jurisdiction in 2016. Secretariat observations and administrative notes 17. In the operation of the WCPFC RFV in the past year, the Secretariat makes the following observations: The implementation of the RFV SSPs, since its coming into force in June 2014, together with the reviews of RFV data completeness through the Compliance Monitoring Report have greatly streamlined and improved the operation of the RFV including the completeness of the information within the RFV. The understanding of and use of VID (WCPFC vessel identification number) number, which is a system identifier for a vessel in the RFV continued to improve and this is 9
important as the VID uniquely identifies a vessel, thus enabling the RFV history of the vessel to be tracked, regardless of any change in any of the vessel information including relisting/delisting from the RFV and when vessels change flag. CCMs can view history for an individual vessel record on the intranet, using three dots shortcut see section 2.4 of the Managing RFV On-line Guide for guidance on how to do this. The RFV is a central data source in the WCPFC Integrated MCS databases. An important part of the day to day administration by the Secretariat of the WCPFC RFV involves the management of the vessel history in the RFV. The Secretariat makes best efforts to check for and avoid the creation of duplicates records in the RFV, and will regularly liaise with CCMs to this end. CCMs should note that when a vessel is deleted from the RFV, in practice the record is no longer viewable on the public views of the RFV. The vessel record is archived, and the vessel status is changed from active to deleted. CCMs can re-instate/re-list a deleted vessel and section 3.3 and section 4 of the Managing RFV On-line Guide provide the procedures on how to do this. CCMs are reminded to use these procedures in order to avoid creating duplicate records in the RFV. The effect of duplicates in the RFV means the history of a vessel is not consolidated in one place and this create extra and complicated tasks for the Secretariat Compliance and IT team in terms of consolidating these duplicate records. As reported to previous TCCs, the Secretariat continued to receive queries relating to expired or blank authorization period for a vessel on the RFV, mostly from high seas boarding and inspection (HSBI) party and markets. The Secretariat continues to maintain the advice provided previously by the former Legal Advisor, Professor Martin Tsamenyi, that if a vessel flagged to a Commission member or Cooperating Non-member is listed on the RFV, this implies, through reference to CMM 2013-10, that the flag State considers that the vessel is entitled to fly its flag and is authorized to fish in the Convention Area and that that the expiry of authorization date is an administrative matter between the flag State and the vessel (TCC9 Summary Report, para 324). CCMs are reminded to send all general RFV inquiries, requests for assistance and submissions of electronic files to update the RFV to the email address: contact.rfv@wcpfc.int Recommendation 18. TCC13 is invited to consider and note this paper. 10
Annex 1: Number of vessels in the RFV vs number of vessels that fished as indicated by the Fished/Did not fished report for the year 2014-2016 2014 2015 2016 Row Labels VesselCount Fished_Cnt DidNotFish_Cnt VesselCount Fished_Cnt DidNotFish_Cnt VesselCount Fished_Cnt DidNotFish_Cnt AU 73 13 60 74 9 65 71 12 59 BZ 19 0 0 CA 23 0 23 26 0 26 12 0 12 CK 15 3 12 15 2 13 15 6 9 CN 656 457 185 677 455 208 698 444 254 EC 11 7 4 11 0 0 11 3 8 EU 108 14 94 106 13 92 80 11 69 FJ 85 50 35 79 44 34 75 39 36 FM 30 27 3 33 31 2 38 37 1 ID 401 51 348 398 18 376 400 0 400 JP 1327 479 842 1243 504 735 861 575 286 KI 70 68 0 70 39 11 36 30 6 KR 304 170 132 309 159 148 306 180 122 LR 18 0 18 34 3 31 MH 18 14 3 20 16 3 19 13 6 NC 18 1 17 17 0 17 18 2 16 NZ 9 6 3 9 3 5 7 5 2 PA 72 55 15 96 28 67 109 81 28 PF 95 0 95 96 0 96 83 0 83 PG 53 28 25 62 23 39 72 24 48 PH 837 352 482 846 341 504 872 301 571 SB 5 0 5 9 0 9 9 3 6 SV 4 3 1 4 2 2 4 2 2 TH 6 0 6 8 0 8 8 0 8 TO 2 0 2 2 0 2 1 0 1 TV 10 5 5 6 4 2 6 5 1 TW 1719 617 1101 1718 650 1067 1679 651 1028 US 213 197 16 219 193 0 224 183 41 VN 1 0 1 VU 159 112 33 140 120 11 125 96 29 Grand Total 6296 2729 3548 6268 2654 3560 5848 2706 3163 11